Comment by seanmcdirmid
12 hours ago
But you should probably just get a suica in your apple or google wallet, you don’t actually need an IC card. I’m not sure if using a phone makes it less fast though, I couldn’t tell (we had to get a card for my kid since he doesn’t have a phone).
Definitely better than the QR codes used by China.
You can use a digital Suica in Google Wallet only if your Android phone has Japan-spec hardware . International Android phones bought outside Japan generally cannot support digital Suica cards in Google Wallet.
Pixel phones bought outside Japan supposedly can if you do a little adb hacking to enable it, but I don't have a Pixel to try it myself.
Pixel phones outside of Japan are missing the Felica chip.
Apple pays the fee for all phones in the world to have the chip. Google only pays for Japan devices.
4 replies →
All iPhones can.
You can move your alipay card into apple wallet and have it as the default payment method, so do you don't even have to swipe or turn on your phone, it will even work in low-power/off mode.
It doesn't make it less fast! The same model is implemented on the mobile side, which uses the same technology.
It’s sooooo convenient to buy Shinkansen tickets digitally too with it all linked.